


Deal with the devil

by PastelMiu



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Gambling, Kakegurui AU, M/M, Private School, Slow Burn, You don’t need to know about Kakegurui to read this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-07-08 04:52:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15923279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMiu/pseuds/PastelMiu
Summary: Shuichi Saihara didn’t think it was possible to get to the top when you’ve hit rock bottom. Until he met Kokichi.( Kakegurui Au. You don’t need to know Kakegurui to read this.)





	1. inquisitiveness is a matter of flattery

He wasn’t really sure what to think or do as Miu stared him down from across the classroom desk. Mutters and giggles surrounded him as people chatted, watching them play. It was his first day at the academy, and Miu had challenged him to a ‘simple card game’, as she had called it.

“Come on Suckhara, what the fuck are you waiting for?”

Ah, that’s right. It was his turn. He wasn’t thinking rationally anymore, the stakes getting much to high for him to handle. He hadn’t expected this, but he should have known better, most of the students at this school were filthy rich after all, next in line to big name companies and families. He definitely couldn’t afford to pay if he lost.

“Showdown!” Shuichi said, meaning it was time to show eachover their cards. 

“Full house.”

He laid his cards out in front of him, they were good, he thought. He should be able to win with this. Sweating, he looked up at where Miu sat, seeing the triumphant grin she wore.

She chucked her cards onto the desk carelessly, Shuichi paling as he saw that she had won, beaten him with near ease. A straight royal flush. He wasn’t sure if she was cheating, or simply better at the game than he was. Maybe lucky. It didn’t matter now, he was certain he couldn’t pay the money he owed.

He was also sure that Miu knew that, judging by the grin on her face. Shuichi curled in on himself in his chair, hearing laughter from the crowd gathered around them.

“Hey, Virgin! You gonna pay me back or what?” Miu leaned back in her chair, smirking and looking down on him. “I’d bet you don’t have enough money to pay up, right Shuichi?”

“N-no, I don’t..” He stuttered as he spoke, Miu frowning and speaking sarcastically back at him.

“Shame. I did want that money back. You’ll be lucky if you can pay it back before the student council deadlines, which are next week. ‘Guess you’ll be a housepet now though if you can’t!” 

Giggles erupted among her friends, and Shuichi ran out of the room, his face pale and his hands trembling.

—-

Months passed the same way, Shuichi felt barely human at that point by the way that people treated him, and the others who were in the same situation.

He was ordered around by people around him in the halls of Hope’s Peak. A school for the elite and educated, entitled teenagers being taught how to lead in politics, companies and academics. They all knew what their futures would hold. Shuichi wasn’t sure anymore.

He was only a scholarship student, even before he had gotten his debt he was below them. It was terrifying. Class would start soon, and he splashed water in his face to calm himself before heading into his class. Shuichi pushed through the crowds making their own way to class, toying with his tag that hung around his neck as he walked. Chatter and laughter filling the halls, it was deafening.

Opening the door to his classroom he made his way to his desk, luckily no one had written on it today so there was nothing to clean off. Why the teacher always blamed him when it was clear he wouldn’t do that to his own desk, he didn’t understand.

Shuichi sighed as he sat down in his seat, and not long after the door clattered open as the teacher opened the classroom, and yelled for the class to sit down and be quiet. Looking up, Shuichi noticed a new student trailing behind him. There was a boy who looked like he was already breaking the rules, wearing a scarf that wasn’t part of their uniform. 

“Class, we have a new student today. Please make him feel welcome.”

The teacher gestured towards the boy before sitting down, he stepped forward, smiling as he introduced himself. “My name is Kokichi Ouma. I hope we can all get along!” He spoke energetically, like he was excited to be at the school, and he took his seat in the one in front of Shuichi, the only empty chair in the classroom.

Class passed in a blur, Shuichi paying little attention as he mindlessly completed the work. He was woken from his daydream when the teacher called out to the class.

“Who’s the class rep?” The teacher looked around the class before landing on him. “Wasn’t it you?” Shuichi nodded and the teacher continued, the role had been pushed on him by his classmates who didn’t want to do it. “Show Kokichi around, make sure he knows where he’s going at lunch.” 

Kokichi turned around and smiled at him. “ Nice to meet you, Shuichi.” He winked at the other boy, and Shuichi felt himself flustering slightly. The new student really was cute. “You’ll make sure I know where I’m going, right?”

Shuichi nodded, quickly look down and going back to doing his work until the end of class.

—-

“So.. What’s with the tag?” Kokichi drawled, smirking slightly as he walked beside him. 

Shuichi jumped, clutching onto the chain that the tag was attached to. “I-it’s nothing!” 

“Really?” Kokichi grinned, watching Shuichi flush red.

“Really. Just ignore it.” 

“Hmm..” Kokichi hummed while walking ahead of him slightly. “Okay then! It must be nothing then, Mr Class Rep wouldn’t lie to me.” 

He sighed, glad the excitable boy had dropped it. It was strange how happy he seemed though.

“Why did you move to this school, Kokichi?” The boy spun around to face him, purple hair bouncing as he moved. 

“Well..” His face suddenly grew intense. “I’m here to assassinate the student council president of course!” 

“What!?” Shuichi exclaimed, jumping slightly.

“Just kidding,” He giggled, stepping closer to Shuichi. “I can’t believe you bought that!” 

He turned around and continued walking, Shuichi decided that the boy was definitely strange. 

They turned into the cafeteria, and Kokichi apparently decided to stick around with him, as he grabbed Shuichi’s wrist and dragged him to an empty table to sit down. 

“Hey, so what’s with all the cards and stuff?” Kokichi got his lunch out, placing it on the table before turning and pointing at people nearby.

The black haired boy sighed before explaining, “The students here always gamble during any free time, usually for money, sometimes for other things. The student council controls all the gambling that goes on, as well as the rankings.”

“Rankings?” Kokichi paused eating, looking up with curiousity. Shuichi supposed he had to find out sometime.

“Well, rankings are decided on how much money you donate to the student council. They announce them at random times, and you just have to hope to be above the bottom hundred when they do.”

“What happens if you’re in that then? That system sounds kinda dumb really.” Kokichi prompted him to continue, his curiousity growing.

“You’re marked as a student with ‘uncooperative tendencies’, a troublemaker. You end up a target for the other students, and they’ll treat you almost like a slave.” 

The other boy looked at Shuichi, before gesturing towards the tag. “Is that because you’re in the bottom hundred then?” 

He laughed awkwardly, nodding. “You’re smart. It is.” He paused as if to steady himself. “I lost at gambling and got into a lot of debt on my first day, I didn’t realise the stakes would be as high as they are.” 

“I get if you don’t want to hang out with me anymore though-“

“And why would I do that?” Kokichi rolled his eyes, putting down what he was eating before paying full attention to Shuichi again. “I really don’t care if it would make me ‘unpopular’ or whatever to be your friend. You’re interesting.”

“I’m what?” 

“You heard me. This school is interesting aswell though. We should get back to class though soon.” Kokichi grinned, standing up. “Come on, Class rep. Can’t be late can you?”

—-

Walking back into the classroom, Shuichi nearly tripped over as Miu pushed past him. “Hey! You’re the new kid, right?”

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” Kokichi smirked, looking at the taller girl.

“Alright, Cuckichi. We should be friends.” Miu grinned, holding up a stack of paper. “Want to do a little gambling? We have a casual little game our class made that we could play.”

The dark haired boy tried to stop Miu in her tracks, stepping forward quickly. “Wait, Kokichi. She’ll-“

“I accept!” He grinned towards Miu while cutting off Kokichi and shot a smile towards Shuichi that said he’d be fine. Shuichi wasn’t convinced of that.

“Might as well play a ‘casual’ game to make friends, right?” He put the emphasis on casual, Shuichi had a feeling Kokichi knew it wouldn’t be already.

Miu smirked at him as the bell rang, and began to walk over to her desk. “We’ll play after class, hope you’re ready!” 

Shuichi sighed to himself, collapsing into his chair. No one could say he didn’t warn Kokichi.


	2. desire for recklessness

Miu Iruma was going to win. That was a fact she was certain of. This school wasn’t a playground, not to her. It was more like a warzone, where she had to sacrifice those around her to survive. 

Politicians, criminals, buisnessmen. Her family couldn’t compare to them. She was rich, of course she was to be at this school. Miu was no scholarship student but she wasn’t filthy rich either. Genius has no time for school, that was a rule she lived by. Her inventions were the things making her the money for her to go here, after all, why would she bother with lessons when she was smart enough to build a career all on her own?

New students were easy prey, that was the reason why she challenged Kokichi to a little gambling. She only intended to give him a little debt, keeping the people in her class under her control was easy when they owed her money. It also kept her from becoming a house pet, she’d go to hell before she did anything the student council said. 

Miu stood up out of her desk as soon as the teacher left, students pushing desks to the side of the room to leave a gap in the middle where they crounded around a few desks pushed together to make a table. She reached into her bag, taking out the blank pieces of card and handing them to the students to pass around to eachover.

Kokichi took the seat on the other side of the desk, and Miu sat down across from him with a smile. “So, Cuckichi,” she grinned, looking at the other student, “We’re going to play a game made by our class, called Ballot Rock Paper Scissors. It’s easy to understand, even for a dumbass like some of the people in this class are.”

“You know the basic rules of Rock Paper Scissors, right?” She smirked. “Well of course you do, it’s a kids game. We play that with a little twist to make it more fun.

Miu gestured towards the crowd of students. “Each of these fuckers chooses a card, and then they draw the symbol for rock, paper, or scissors on it. Then they put it inside this box. We both draw three cards without looking, and then play them. Then it’s just the normal rules.”

Kokichi nodded, leaning on one of his hands. “So it’s more about reading the other player to try and guess what cards they have? Sounds entertaining.”

“Wait-“ A quiet voice called out, likely trying to stop them. As if he could. Miu rolled her eyes, Shuichi looked like he was about to interupt and she shot him a look. “Hey, Pooichi. Go and get the betting chips.” 

He hesitated for a moment. Miu decided she needed to get on with the gambling. “Go fucking get them, fido. They’re in the closet at the back of the room.” 

Noise filled the room as students drew on their cards and dropped them in, and the plastic chips clattered onto the table when Shuichi brought them back for them to bet with.

Once everything was ready, Miu grinned, leaning back in her chair. “Since it’s your first time, I’ll let you decide how much we’re betting each turn.”

“Okay then.” Kokichi picked up a chip from the pile, rolling the plastic against the table. He hummed as if he was thinking. “I think I’ll go for two chips this round.”

“Alright! Let’s go then.” The two drew their cards from the box before looking at them for a few seconds, Kokichi nodded at Miu before speaking.

“Rock, paper, scissors!” The two spoke in sync before playing their cards. Kokichi played scissors while Miu played paper. 

“You won, could be beginners luck.” Miu laughed, pushing two chips over to Kokichi’s side. “What’ll it be now?”

Kokichi smirked, adding the two pieces of plastic to his pile. “I’m feeling lucky. Let’s go for fifty chips, shall we?” 

He pushed the pile forward as people around the room gasped and chattered in shock, rushing to draw on the new cards and the them in before the players drew them.

Miu balked, leaning forward in her seat. “I didn’t know you lived on the wild side, virgin.” It was a lot of money, not that he’d get to see any of it again.

With confidence she picked her cards from the box, and watched as Kokichi surveyed his. 

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

They played again, this time Miu won, taking the pile of fifty chips. “I told you it was beginner’s luck.” She smirked. “So what now Cuckichi?”

“Let’s go back to two.”

They played again, Miu lost and handed the two chips to Kokichi. A few more rounds went by, with Kokichi winning two chips and Miu winning on the rounds when they played for fifty.

“You win again, Miu.” He pushed the pile of chips over to her, looking down at the table. 

“What can I say, I must just be great at this game, unlike you!” She laughed aloud, looking back at Kokichi who smiled.

“But that’s a lie isn’t it, did you think I wouldn’t realise?” 

Miu panicked for a second, faking confusion.

“What the hell are you on about?”

“You’re cheating, aren’t you? The game is rigged against me. Smart, really, but you’re not as sneaky as you could be.”

“What?” The inventor wore a shocked expression, tapping her nails against the desk.

“Not that I care, but there are people in the room playing the card you want, aren’t there? Ten atleast, twenty at most if you want your victory to be near certain.”

“Why the hell are you telling me this then? Are you gonna make me give the chips back?” 

“Oh of course not.” Kokichi rolled his eyes, before pushing all the pieces of plastic in front of him into the center of the table. “I’ll bet all my chips. One last round, what do you say, Miu?” He smirked as people gasped around him. “Chicken?”

 _He’s insane! That’s way too much money._ Miu thought to herself, her face contorting in anger and indecisiveness. 

“Fine! Let’s go then.” She nearly yelled at him, grabbing the cards out of the box and looking at them. All but one were scissors, so it was extremely likely he had them. She plucked the rock card out of the pile.

“Rock, paper, scissors!” Both of them chanted before playing the cards. He had paper.

“How the hell did you..?” Miu trailed off, leaving the obvious question in the air. 

“Does it matter now? I’m the winner.” Kokichi smirked, looking down at her from where he sat as Miu deflated. 

“You’ll pay me, right? You have the money, don’t you?” He grinned, watching as Miu clutched at the desk. 

“I d-don’t.” She stuttered, still shocked that she lost.

“Oh?”

“But!” Miu stood up, her hands on the table as she spoke. “Fucking give me a few days. I’ll get it to you.”

“Hmm.. Nope!” 

“W-What?”

“Just kidding, I’ll give you a few days.” The crowd chattered, beginning to disperse as the card game was packed away. “Guess I’ll be going now, bye bye!” He abruptly left the classroom with a giggle, and Miu watched, unsure of how he’d been able to figure it out so quickly.

—-

“Kokichi!” Shuichi rushed out of the room and into the corridor, following Kokichi out of the room. The shorter boy stopped, turning around with a smile.

“What’s up?” Shuichi breathed heavily, having run out of the classroom to catch up with him, and rested for a second.

“How did you know she was cheating?” He stood up straight again, having caught his breath.

“Oh, that bit was easy. I knew she was cheating from the start. She wouldn’t have done that game if she didn’t intend to win. The hard part was figuring out how she was cheating. The method was smart.”

Kokichi turned, walking as he continued and Shuichi walking not far behind him. “I figured out eventually that she was making people put in a certain card to rig the drawing, but it took me a while to get how. She wasn’t saying any code words, or making any unusual gestures. That would have been too obvious.”

Shuichi looked to the side, guilt covering his features. 

“That’s when I figured out it was you, I could tell right away!” He grinned. “That’s a lie, I didn’t notice that people weren’t watching us, but instead lookin behind me at first. But when I did I noticed they were staring at you, and you were signalling, am I right?”

Shuichi nodded, “I’m sorry, I-“ his apology was abruptly cut of by Kokichi turning around to face him and grinning.

“Don’t be sorry! You look totally not cute when you’re upset, so don’t be.”

“But-“ 

“In fact,” Kokichi continued, “I wanted to say thanks. You made the game more interesting for me. I don’t care if people were cheating.”

The smaller boy took his hand, pushing something into it. “How much is your debt? I bet that’ll cover it.”

Shuichi looked at what he was holding, gasping when he saw it was money. “No, I can’t accept this! That’s way too much for me to take.”

“Have the money. It’s a gift, Shuichi. Now you don’t have to do what they all say anymore? Right?”

They argued for a few minutes, before Shuichi sighed, resigned to accepting the money. It was enough to cover his debt and to donate to the student council to get out of the bottom one hundred students.

They ended up walking home together, Shuichi getting on a bus stop and waving goodbye as Kokichi carried on walking. He wasn’t sure what would happen now, but Kokichi was certainly strange, much stranger than all the other gambling students at Hope’s Peak.


	3. disheveled spirit

  


As Shuichi walked into the academy he heard yelling in the distance, suspiciously from the direction of his classroom. When he got nearer he recognised the voices as Miu and a few of the other students in his class. He waited nearby the classroom, not wanting to go in when he could get caught up in it.

“What’s going on in there? Do you think something interesting?”

Shuichi jumped when he heard the playful voice speak from behind him, and he spun around to face Kokichi. The shorter boy grinned at him before walking past him to peek through the door and see what was going on.

“W-wait Kokichi, you shouldn’t get involved!”

“Calm down, they’re not even properly fighting!” Kokichi pushed open the door as he giggled. “They’re only screaming at each other, nothing _too_ serious!”

The detective in training followed Kokichi into the classroom with a nervous sigh, and looked towards the cause of the commotion.

“I don’t give two shits if you think you’re better than me now! You only think you’re better than me because of some bullshit rule made up by the student council. Doesn’t stop me from being way smarter than any of you bitches!”

“Stop being a bitch, Miu. Why don’t you just put on the tag, huh? You landed in the bottom hundred after yesterday, so you’re a housepet now, right?”

“Who gives a fuck about this? Ever since that slut took over all of you have been following the shit she says! It wasn’t like this last year.”

“Put the tag on!”

The group of students she was arguing with began to chant, and Miu reluctantly put the tag on, pushing her blonde hair back after.

“You’re all fucking idiots for doing what she says.” She stepped forwards, scowling and pointing at one of the students who Shuichi knew used to be her friend. “Don’t come running back to me when this shit goes wrong for you.”

Miu walked away from them, pushing past where they were standing to get out of the classroom, and Shuichi took his seat. 

-

“So, how come you even go to this school?” Kokichi asked as they ate their lunch sat in an outdoors area of the school. People were still gambling, as they always seemed to be at the school, though none of it seemed to be that serious at that moment. “I mean, you’re not rich, right? Are you on a scholarship or something?” 

Shuichi nodded, smiling as the shorter boy kicked his legs forward, rarely sitting still on the bench they were eating at. “Yeah, I had heard it was a prestigious school and my older sister encouraged me to come here, she said it would be good for me.” 

“Really? That’s boring. I was hoping for some kinda wild backstory!”

Kokichi sighed, leaning back on the bench and looking around, a bored expression on his face. Shuichi went back to eating his lunch, not paying attention to the shorter boy for a few minutes before he bolted out of the seat, running towards Miu who he had spotted sitting at a nearby table, scrolling through her phone.

“Miu!” Kokichi yelled, sitting across from her and gesturing for the taller boy to go with him. “What was all that this morning?”

“Why the hell are you here? Go fuck yourself, asshole.” Miu put her phone down, glaring at him when he didn’t leave. “You know exactly what that was this morning, you little shit. It’s all because of you that I have this stupid thing-” She pointed to the tag around her neck as she spoke. “-So do me a favor and fuck off.”

“I didn’t know that’d happen to you, and you tried to put me in debt to you first, so I think it’s fair! Don’t you, Miu?” 

“Fuck off. You definitely knew.” The taller girl folded her arms, glaring at the both of them. 

Shuichi was sure that he did know, but he was also sure that Miu was trying to make Kokichi owe her money by gambling against him. He decided to keep quiet. 

“Well anyway, Miu. I was thinking that we could be friends!” 

“You want to be friends? You’re fucking kidding me.” She shook her head. “Like hell I’d want to be friends with you, bitch! After what you did to me you’re trying to be friends?”

“And what else do you have now? All of the people who ‘liked’ you before have left you, haven’t they?”

“Who the fuck do you-“ 

“Ah- Hi! You’re the new student, aren’t you?”

The three of them looked at the girl who had just arrived, her voice cheerful and friendly. She grinned, looking at Kokichi.

“I am, who are you then?” 

Shuichi recognised her, he had never spoken to the slightly younger girl, but he knew that she was a first year, and that she was a student council member. 

“I’m Kaede Akamatsu! Everyone’s been talking about you and Miu gambling together yesterday. I heard it was impressive, especially for someone who just arrived here.” 

Kokichi smirked, looking at the student council member. “Of course it was! Everyone at this school is totally weak compared to me.” 

“Really?” Kaede giggled, turning to Miu. “Well, I doubt Miu didn’t put up a challenge. When I’ve played her before it’s not been easy! I'm surprised you beat her.” 

“Anyway,” She turned back to Kokichi, still smiling. “Would you like to play against me? I’m pretty good at gambling myself.”

“Sounds fun! Right now?”

“How about after school? It’s nearly the end of lunch. We wouldn’t have much time now.”

“See you then, Kaede!” The boy waved as she left, but she turned around as if she forgot something.

“You two come too, okay? I’m so curious to hear about how everything really happened yesterday Miu - and I was sure you had a tag before, Shuichi.” She waved back at Kokichi before leaving, still smiling as she was when she arrived.

He turned to Miu, as soon as Kaede had left. “You played against a student council member?”

“Don’t act like she’s gonna kill me or something, dumbass. No need to look so shocked.” Miu rolled her eyes, looking at Shuichi. “She asked me to play a while ago. Not really any serious gambling, she is good at it though.”

“So she’s a student council member? That’s interesting.” Kokichi grinned, standing up. “This should be interesting at least, don’t you think?”

“It seems like a bad idea to gamble against her.” Shuichi stood up, gathering his lunch to put it in his bag. “What if she wants to gamble seriously and not just have a _friendly_ game?” 

“Oh you don’t have to worry about me, Shuichi! I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Just leave him. If this idiot wants to get his ass handed to him by someone on the student council then that's fine with me. It’s his choice to be a fucking dumbass.” 

They began to walk back to class, Kokichi skipping slightly in front of them as they made their way through the corridors. 

“How come a first year is on there anyway? Isn’t it normally only second and third years?”

“Well, the rumour is that she bribed her way into being on the student council. Her parents are extremely rich, and she’s a pianist who sells out most of her concerts.” Shuichi answered, remembering what his classmates had said about her.

“Even if she did bribe her way in, she’s apparently really smart and rarely loses a game. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Of course! Like Miu said, it’s my choice.”

Shuichi was certain that she hadn’t meant it in that way and it was intended to be more of an insult, but he opted to be quiet, instead carrying on walking to his afternoon class.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated! Thank you for reading. 
> 
>  
> 
> If you want to message me I’m @pastelmiu on twitter.


End file.
